Thoughts on culture and events by author and illustrator Christopher R Taylor

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

IMMIGRATION-FREE ZONE

"When a nation has arrived at this state, it must either change its customs and its laws, or perish"

I won't be posting anything on illegal immigration after this final bit until the hysteria calms down and bloggers stop acting like little children throwing a tantrum. Shame on Polipundit, shame on Michelle Malkin, and other blogs who are jumping up and down screaming that the sky is falling because President Bush won't do things their way. A big thanks to Ace of Spades Headquarters who with his post Liar Liar Pants On Fire points out the odd attitude and overblown reaction to this issue:

Even so, I have to gaze in astonishment at two competing posts on display over there. Has it really come to this? Either Bush (or as some wags say, El Presidente Jorge Arbusto) is LYING with every word of his speech (thank you, Polipundit), or, if you aren't wildly applauding the speech and unreservedly supporting Bush's plan, and claim to be a Republican and a conservative, then "you are not a Republican. You are not a conservative. You are a LIAR. A LIAR." (Thank you, Mr. McClure) Oh, and don't disagree with Mr. McClure's definition of 'amnesty', or you might have to decide whether you are "a moron, or a liar."

I have sympathies for both sides of this debate. I'm not happy with how President Bush is handling a number of issues, this being a big one, but I'm also more interested in seeing that something positive and constructive takes place.

I agree that something needs to be done, I agree that the congress should take steps to secure our borders, and I agree that President Bush is failing in his duties as the head of the executive department by not enforcing the law and by not obeying the law.

But this reaction is far, far outside the realm of logic or rationality, it's like someone screaming and falling to the ground kicking and yelling because McDonalds gave them Honey Mustard instead of Barbecue Sauce for their McNuggets. Please, get a grip.

You want something done? Do you want the flood of illegal aliens dealt with and immigration worked on? The first thing to do is for each of us as individuals to take a stand. Don't hire someone you can't be confident is a citizen. Try not to shop at places you know hire illegals. Don't hire illegals yourself. Seriously. If every individual citizen did his duty by the law, then the government wouldn't have to do it for us because there'd be no jobs like the illegals come up for now.

We should be pressuring businesses we know hire illegals as best we can, while we pressure politicians to enforce the law. Do you live in a state that has "sanctuary" cities like Los Angeles, or laws that prohibit police from asking about citizenship status? There's the first place you should be working, to fix the problem where you live.

We have gotten so used to the federal government as big daddy fixing our problems we've forgotten how to work and do things ourselves. We've gotten so dependent on government to solve every trouble we face that we've lost all initiative and the American spirit that made this country what it is today. When our grandparents saw a problem they asked "what can I do to fix this" not "why doesn't the government do something???" and bust out crying like three year-old who was denied a third helping of ice cream.

In Democracy In America, Alexis DeTocqueville contrasted Americans with Europeans, saying that unlike Americans, who took problems in their own hands and kept the administration of government local and diluted, Europeans were so dependent on government to deal with their problems that

"This want of interest in his own affairs goes so far that if his own safety or that of his children is at last endangered, instead of trying to avert the peril, he will fold his arms and wait till the whole nation comes to his aid. This man who has so completely sacrificed his own free will does not, more than any other person, love obedience; he cowers, it is true, before the pettiest officer, but he braves the law with the spirit of a conquered foe as soon as its superior force is withdrawn; he perpetually oscillates between servitude and license."

America has reached that same point. We are a people who sit at home helplessly, a people who are "a kind of settler, indifferent to the fate of the spot which he inhabits. The greatest changes are effected there without his concurrence, and (unless chance may have apprised him of the event ) without his knowledge..." as DeTocqueville describes such a citizen. He warns us:

When a nation has arrived at this state, it must either change its customs and its laws, or perish; for the source of public virtues is dried up; and though it may contain subjects, it has no citizens. Such communities are a natural prey to foreign conquests; and if they do not wholly disappear from the scene, it is only because they are surrounded by other nations similar or inferior to themselves; it is because they still have an indefinable instinct of patriotism; and an involuntary pride in the name of their country, or a vague reminiscence of its bygone fame, suffices to give them an impulse of self-preservation.

You want something done? Then you're the one who should take action, where you live, in your community, in your town. Get something done locally, everyone. That's how we get things done in America - or at least we used to before we became pathetic infants suckling at the breast of big government.

But Illegal Immigration - unless something truly significant happens - is not a topic I care to waste bandwidth on here again.